Specifying a Table of Contents Entry

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 22, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

If you are creating a regular table of contents from headings within the document, you don't need the information in this tip. Instead, you should refer to the TOC tips provided in other issues of WordTips. If you are creating a specialized TOC, however, then you will need the information in this tip. Examples of a specialized TOC would be a table of figures, illustrations, or tables. To create these types of TOCs, you must follow these two basic steps:

Specify what you want in the TOC.
Generate the TOC.

The first step is done by the following these steps; the second is covered in the next tip.

Position the insertion point immediately after the text you want included in the TOC.
Press Ctrl+F9 to insert a set of field braces. Make sure the insertion point stays between the braces.
Type tc, followed by the TOC entry within quotes. Thus, if you want the entry to be "North American Mammals", enter tc "North American Mammals" between the field braces.
Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each TOC entry you want to define.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12659) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Converting a Range of URLs to Hyperlinks

Converting a single URL into a hyperlink is easy. Converting hundreds or thousands can be much harder if you have to rely ...

Discover More

Deleting Multiple AutoText Entries

AutoText is a great feature in Word; it helps you put together documents quickly. If you need to delete multiple AutoText ...

Discover More

Searching for Items in an Automatically Numbered List

The Find and Replace capabilities of Word can be very powerful, but there are some things you cannot search for. One such ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Incomplete Table of Contents

Word allows you to easily add a table of contents to your documents. If you find that some of your document headings ...

Discover More

Hyperlinks from Headings to the TOC

A table of contents is a great way to help organize lengthy documents. In a default TOC, you can use each entry as a ...

Discover More

Two Types of Page Numbers in a TOC

Word, when creating a table of contents, should automatically make sure that the page numbers it shows correspond to the ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 2 + 2?

2020-03-14 02:30:46

BradleyK

This page has a mention of the TC field but the TC field should be treated as what it is, a completely separate field that is used by the TOC field to create a Table of Contents.

This is the first time I have been frustrated by the TIPS site. I have used the site for Word and Excel for over a year.I And seeing the other areas it includes, I am planning on checking out a couple of other forums.

But Table of Contents related fields is complicated according to the Word Help results. That is why I love your site. Short, to the point , very descriptive texts to specific tasks. I think even my wife could use your tips. (She is very incompetent with Windows, Word and Excel and refuses to go to any classes about these subjects. I am not nearly as good at technical support withing the family as I was when I did telephone customer support for printers and servers long ago. Those customers were usually technically competent and just need a little help with the printer or the server.)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.